By Mariam Juwara, @JuwaraMariam
I call on all Gambians at home and abroad to unite in any forms and by any means to remove the ill-mannered dictator Yahya Jammeh from the presidency of the Republic of The Gambia. We must not sit down and watch Yahya Jammeh damage our beloved nation beyond repairs.
We have had enough of him since 1994. Nobody can tell us anything more than we can all see, hear and feel about his dirty behaviour in office; even baby Aisha, a month old girl-child is a victim of his misrule. Baby Aisha and her both biological parents are victims of Yahya Jammeh’s iron fist rule. Baby Aisha goes to his detention centre and to the kangaroo courts with her innocent mother Kaddy Samateh. Each time Kaddy Samateh faces Yahya Jammeh’s machinery judge with his wooden hammer for cross-examinations, she would carry baby Aisha under her armpit. She would stand up with her while she breastfeeds her because they both share the same charges in the liberation struggle. Their only crime is just to show solidarity with their husband and father who dutifully went to court for expressing his civil rights by peacefully demonstrating for electoral reforms with some other Gambians on 14 April 2016 ahead of December 2016 general elections.
Each time that Kaddy Samateh begins responding to the judge’s questions, she couldn’t resist shedding tears out of fear and helplessness. In one of the court sittings, the innocent baby Aisha suddenly stopped breast feeding and instinctively faced the wicked machinery judge with teary eyes. In an emotional tone, the baby girl began kicking and babbling out for mercy; common sense could tell. However, the insensitive judge paid a deaf ear to the cooing baby Aisha who represented herself in gurgling sounds. As soon as the court attendees saw baby Aisha struggling to talk to the judge, they all sympathised with her and exclaimed, “Allahu Akbarr” meaning in Arabic, God is great. Where on planet earth has a toddler been arrested, detained and tried in a kangaroo court out of grudges other than in The Gambia under Yahya Jammeh?
Under normal circumstances, babies are innocent of any crimes whatsoever, and they deserve nothing but absolute care, love and protection. People with their senses admire babies without any prejudice. We are kind to them, we show them love, talk to them, smile for them and if possible sing for them and they return godly smiles to us. This is what we know and it’s how we are all brought up in our various setups irrespective of race or creed.
Thanks to one-man government show. The least we can expect from the female members of his cabinet is their strong reaction to insane Yahya Jammeh’s controversial orders. They could have at least raised their voices to be heard for the unconditional release of the politically motivated women detainees and the baby girl. Where is Vice President Isatou Njie Saidy, Justice Minister Mama Singhateh, and Foreign Minister Neneh Magdoll? The illegal president Yahya Jammeh has it all wrong since the dawn of 22 July 1994 to date. If we don’t stop him he shall ever continue to do things from bad to worst while serving as president.
In the recent past, while touring the country, his agenda at Talinding Kunjang rally in Kanifing Municipal area was to attack the Mandinkolu. He was annoyingly swearing at his audience, dehumanising the Mandinkolu to the point of threatening to kill us all like ants and cockroaches. He accuses Mandinkolu of plotting to destabilise his government and country. He further claimed that Mandinkolu are foreigners in The Gambia who never existed in The Gambia before 1886. That of course is a multi-billion dollar lie. I don’t need to waist time to argue that statement but just to refer him to his history books and history teachers. Therefore, if the 43 per cent ethnic group continues to pose threat to his government he will deport all of them to their origin Mali. He further said that he will kill anybody that goes out to streets to demonstrate and nothing will come out of it. This is a message he has sent to The Gambians and the world at large about his ill intentions ahead of December 2016 general elections, in other wards, crimes against his oppositions.